Nauru's justice system is in disarray and cases against scores of asylum seekers are in limbo after the Nauru government sacked its only magistrate and denied its Australian Chief Justice a visa to re-enter the country.

The government moved without warning against Australian magistrate Peter Law on Sunday, terminating his employment and escorting him in police custody to the airport, without giving him the chance to pack or close his flat.

Mr Law was due to hear the court case of the 152 asylum seekers charged over riots at the detention centre in July last year.

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The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed Nauru had sent Mr Law home, but was unclear exactly why. ''We understand Magistrate Peter Law was deported from Nauru this afternoon. This is a matter for the Nauru government,'' a department spokesperson said in a statement.

The Nauru government has also ignored an injunction aimed at preventing Mr Law's removal issued by Nauru's Chief Justice, Geoffrey Eames, a former Victorian Supreme Court judge, who has expressed concern the dismissal was politically motivated and an abuse of the rule of law.

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Justice Eames was due to fly to Nauru last night but was told his visa had been cancelled, apparently on the order of Nauruan President Baron Waqa.

He is believed to be considering a challenge in the Australian High Court to the cancellation.

Directions hearings involving about 40 of the asylum seekers charged with riot and wilful damage at the country's detention centre were to be held this week, but are now unlikely to proceed.

Justice Eames has been Nauru's chief justice for three years and is believed to have expressed serious concerns to the Nauru government about the conditions under which asylum seekers sent by Australian authorities are held on the tiny island.

He also opposed a move by the government to have the cases against those charged over last year's riot heard at the detention centre and closed to the media.

Under the terms of his appointment, he remains Nauru's chief justice until the age of 75 - he is now 68 - unless he is removed by a two-thirds vote of the Nauruan parliament on the grounds of proven incapacity or misconduct.

In a statement issued late on Sunday, he signalled he had no intention of resigning, saying he had many part-heard cases and had obligations to litigants and the people of Nauru.

''These events are unprecedented. I consider that it is my duty to uphold the rule of law and the principle of judicial independence. Those principles are vital to democracy,'' he said.

The move against Mr Law came after he issued two injunctions restraining the government from deporting two residents without giving them any reason or right to challenge the action. One of those to be deported was Rod Henshaw, an Australian expat who was an adviser to the former Nauru government. Mr Henshaw runs the Reef Bar in the government-owned Menen Hotel. The government closed the bar and terminated Mr Henshaw's occupancy at the hotel.

Mr Waqa told Mr Eames on Sunday that Mr Law was being deported because he was the subject of allegations of misbehaviour by a former member of staff.

But Justice Eames said Mr Law strongly denied the allegations and he believed the person making them was facing disciplinary charges.